Mets Hire Another Former Dodgers Employee to Join Front Office

Since Sept. 30, the New York Mets have hired two former Dodgers employees to oversee their international scouting department.

May 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Mets logo on the sleeve of J.D. Martinez during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

A little over a month after appointing James Kang as their new director of international scouting, the New York Mets have decided who will work most closely with him.

On Friday, Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the Mets were hiring Laiky Uribe as their assistant director of international scouting. Uribe spent the last eight years with the Los Angeles Dodgers working in various scouting roles.

The Mets are hiring Laiky Uribe as assistant director of international scouting, league sources tell The Athletic. Uribe worked as international cross checker for the Dodgers. He'll join James Kang, recently added from Guardians as Mets' new director of international scouting.

— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) November 1, 2024

A native of the Bronx, Uribe played catcher for Odessa College and Galveston College in the early 2010s before launching his professional career as a volunteer assistant in the St. Louis Cardinals’ international scouting department in August 2015. He expressed excitement about returning home to the Big Apple in a post on Twitter/X:

I’ve been fortunate to have spent the past 8 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and I’ll forever be grateful to the org & everyone I worked with. Ending that chapter with a World Series win was the perfect send-off. Now, it’s time to head back to the Big Apple. Let’s go Mets! 🍎

— Laiky Uribe (@LaikyUribe) November 2, 2024

Before joining the Cleveland Guardians as a senior player acquisitions scout in December, Kang and Uribe overlapped in the Dodgers’ organization for four years, both serving as international cross checkers for the last three.

During that time, the Dodgers secured numerous talented international prospects, including outfielder Josue De Paula (No. 2 in the Dodgers’ farm system), shortstop Joendry Vargas (No. 7), and outfielder Eduardo Quintero (No. 9). Currently, Los Angeles boasts the fifth-best farm system in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, while the Mets rank 13th.

Hiring former Dodgers employees has become a trend for the Mets ever since Steve Cohen purchased the team in the fall of 2020. Before Cohen’s first season as owner in 2021, the Mets hired Ben Zauzmer from the Dodgers to lead their analytics department, promoting him to assistant GM ahead of the 2022 season.

Four years ago, Cohen was said to be modeling his organization as the East Coast version of the now World Series champion Dodgers. After a poor start to the 2024 season, the Mets far exceeded their low expectations and managed to reach the NLCS, pushing Los Angeles to six games before ultimately falling short.

New York possesses the financial flexibility to compete with any team, including the high-spending Dodgers, who committed over $1 billion to free agents last winter. However, what has distinguished Los Angeles in recent years is its consistent ability to develop quality prospects, giving them an advantage in roster construction and blockbuster trade negotiations.

By continuing to recruit key former Dodgers scouts, the Mets appear to be striving to replicate their NL rival’s success in identifying and attracting future stars in international free agency.